ok, here's the deal... it's sturdy, cheaper, does the job and fits in the bottom of a 7.5 gallon rubbermaid cooler pretty snuggly. BTW, in case anyone is wondering if there's a cheaper alternative to the false bottoms and this screen..... well there is, its called.. are you ready for this... a stainless steel mandarin strainer. look it up and then buy one.. It works perfectly. Homebrewing solutions 101 baby. Knowledge is power

I bought this for a 5gal igloo cooler. I think it's better suited for a 10gal, though. I had to bend it in a couple places in order to fit it in. Other than that, I was really impressed with the flow rate. Totally clog-free.

I made my own mash tun and bought this over the round false bottoms because of the money deference. Yes you do have to bend it to get it to fit in a round cooler and is somewhat awkward to screw into a ball valve but it works great. If you don't have a ton of money this is the way to go. I have done numerous batches now and it has given me zero issues.

When I switched to AG I went with a 10G cooler with false bottom. Instantly stuck when trying to drain first running. I found after the false bottom didn't sit truly flat and let grains under easily. Switched to this (need to crimp to shorten the length a little in a round cooler) and everything has been perfect since then, never a stuck drain or sparge and always great flow. Be careful of course not to knock it when stirring, I stir over it then along the sides to prevent breaking it.

I don't understand how people can think a product titled "Mash/Boil Screen" should be used as a hop strainer. I just...can't. Every time I think about it, a kitten dies...Either way, I got one of these for my mash tun (10 gal. Rubbermaid cooler), and this thing works wonders. If you use this in a cooler that's 10 gal. or less like mine, simply crimp the non-threaded end, and roll it to the length that fits. 5 stars.

I got this for mashing in a 10 gallon round cooler. To fit it in the cooler I have to fold over about 3" from the end, which doesn't really affect it. This is not a stainless steel braid as much as it is the same material as a screen door, but stiff. Over the last 4 batches I've maintained 75% efficiency with it. I haven't had any trouble with filtering that a round of vorlaufing didn't fix. Be careful when handling the screen; I've had a couple of the wires go loose and jab me.

I mash in a 10gal Rubbermade round cooler. This screen does not seem to filter out the particles as well as the false bottom I was using no matter how much I recirculate. That's OK though because it has never, ever plugged up on me. No more starting a brew day with the worry that my mash will stick and hours will be added.

Its great for your mash tun but you need to make sure whatever you are mashing in (cooler, kettle, etc.) has a diameter of at least 12". I use a 5 gallon Rubbermaid water cooler and I needed to bend it in an awkward position and kinda deform it in order to make it fit because it was too long. It shouldn't be a problem for bigger coolers. It still did the job really well.

Other reviews have it nailed. Works great in a mash tun. I much prefer it over my old false bottom. I also got one for my kettle and it worked great with whole hops, but was almost completly clogged with pellet hops. To maintain any kind of flow rate I had to constantly stir and a lot of hop material made it into the fermenter in doing so. The clamp does not attach it very securly to the nipple.

To the previous writers,I fortunately have not run into the troubles that you folks have mentioned. Try this next time if you use an immersion chiller. After chilling your wort, use a sanitized long spoon and whirlpool your wort which means to stir it well and get a good vortex going. Allow your wort to sit for 5-10 minutes and settle down. The hop particles and trub will gather in the center of your boiling vessel away from the spout opening. Then drain your boiling kettle slowly to minimize or eliminate clogging. I hope this will save you some headaches.

Works well for me. I have it on a 45 degree elbow so it is off to the side in my 25g boil kettle. Coil wort chiller sits next to it so much of the leaf hops are blocked by coil and rest by screen. I drain at a trickle to prevent clogging. Sometimes it runs fast and sometimes very slowly, but it was a simple cheaper solution vs false bottom. Tons of break left in pot.

I have used this item for about a year now in my Megapot. I like it for what I use it for. My criticism would be that, though the description says "stainless", unfortunately it is not stainless now. I'm afraid after enduring too many boils and too many cycles through the dishwasher, it has now become pretty rusted. I will shell out the dough to get another one because I do like what it does for me. I think I will try not putting it through the dishwasher, hopefully that will help it last longer.

I used this screen in a converted keg to mash tun. It fits perfectly and does the job. However, after the first use it fell apart. Trying to unscrew it the screen separated from the screw. If you get this plan on replacing the compression fitting it with a screw-tightening hose clamp. It has worked ever since. Do not use for the boil as it clogs easily with hops.

The screen does the job of straining the wort from the boil kettle. I have a 20 gallon with the screen installed. However when draining the wort through to the plate chiller, the screen ends up getting caked up in gunk restricting the flow to the chiller. Need to end up constantly scraping the tube with a spoon to clear it off. I did try to swirl the wort but all of the sediment ends up right where the tube is located. Product quality is very good. My suggestion would be to make a unit with a tee fitting and a smaller tube on each side at an angle to hug the side of the pot' so when you swirl, the sediment stays in the center.

When looking into this screen, I was advused that I should use a hop bag when utilized on a brewpot. I am not a big fan of hop bags usually, but it does make sense when adding a valve to a boilpot. So may seem a bit over the top to use hop bags and a screen, but I can see the logic on how easily the screen would get clogged. Apparently Tony is not alone with this problem in a boil kettle, maybe OK for a mash tun. I'll still use this with hop bags, better to have belts and suspenders than your cooled wort getting stuck in the boil kettle, then the screen to help reduce any trub being transferred into the fermentor. Soulds better than using a racking cane, though that is what have done for 15 years. A warning in the description would be nice.

I use it as a boil screen. It is ok if you use whole hops but the mesh is not fine enough for most break material and pellet hops. It certainly helps but is not nearly as effective as the finer screen that I use on my other boil kettle.

I bought this last fall and had an identical experience as Tony, and with an RIS to boot! CREEPY. Anyway, I've experienced acceptable performance when I bag up the hops, but I'm probably going to retire this device from the lineup after only four batches because it struggles mightily with even a modest amount of hop particulates. Great concept, does not cut it by itself in a boil kettle. I haven't used it in a mash tun, but I can see how it might work better in that application.

I intended to use the Mash/Boil Screen in my boil kettle. I've used it once, on a Russian Imperial Stout. My experience was not good. A single layer of hop particulates caused the Mash/Boil Screen to become clogged to the point of not allowinf wort to fl. I would have expected complications as a result of clogging on a mega-hopped beer, but the fact that I encountered this kind of clogging on a Russian Imperial Stout makes me question whether I should risk using the screen on hoppier beers (which is pretty much all of them).

I use this in my 48 quart mashtun. I've had mixed results. Sometimes I can sparge and the wort comes out at an acceptable rate but other times it's barely a trickle. I'm going to find another use for the screen and make a copper or cpvc manifold for the bottom of my 'tun. My brother uses one and it works much, much better.

why is this not pre-sized for its practical application, a rubbermaid cooler?I even have the ten gallon and had to mess with it.Spending 18 bucks on this was upsetting when I should have just made one myself.My bad.